‘I just wanted her to be quiet'

DISTRAUGHT murder accused Stephen Ellis repeatedly broke down as he described to police killing his fiancée in a hotel room.

As detectives quizzed him over why he had strangled his lover Donna Rowe after a family wedding in Oxford, Ellis kept repeating: "She would not shut up, she kept making noises."

And a jury at Oxford Crown Court trying Ellis for murder also heard the 26-year-old had previously sought anger management after attacking a man with a Stanley knife over stolen keys when he was a teenager.

Miss Rowe, a 29-year-old former Battle Hospital nurse who met Ellis when she was involved in a lesbian relationship with his cousin Jenny Headlam, was found dead in room 117 of a Travelodge at Peartree roundabout, Oxford, on Sunday, August 3, last year.

The jury has been told by prosecutor Neil Moore she died from asphyxiation after a hairdryer flex was put across her throat.

Ellis and Miss Rowe, who lived in Axbridge Road in Whitley together and were due to marry just weeks later, had gone to the wedding of another cousin on Saturday, August 2.

Ellis, who surrendered to police after

initially fleeing to France, told detectives when they interviewed him that Miss Rowe was nervous about the wedding because it would have been the first time she had seen Mrs Headlam or her family for many months after the end of the previous relationship.

She was drinking and began to fondle him during the wedding speeches until he told her to stop, he said.

Afterwards she stormed off and the pair rowed, eventually leaving the party to go back to the hotel, where the argument continued. She said she preferred a previous boyfriend and criticised him over not displaying affection in public, he said.

Ellis, clearly emotional on the tape played to the jury, then told detectives: "I just remember looking over, saying shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up and she would not stop, she would not stop." Later he said: "I did not know what to say to sort it out, to find out what it was that was wrong to start with."

He continued: "I do not know how angry I was. I can remember standing up and leaning forward over her and then putting my hands around her throat and she fell back on to the bed."

As detectives continued questioning, the truck driver said: "I just wanted her to be quiet. She would not shut up. She kept making noises. It seemed like a long time."

Ellis also told detectives he had sought anger management therapy after he cut a man during his engineering training in Middlesborough. Ellis denies murder and the jury has been told he may claim provocation or diminished responsibility because he temporarily lost control of his mind. The trial continues.